birthday dinner at d bar

This is not the freebie birthday post. Those will start tomorrow! This is the “it’s my birthday and I just want to go out to eat” post at one of my favorite restaurants, D Bar in Hillcrest. I actually prefer the lunch menu to the dinner menu, but as long as you load me up with some macaroni and cheese then no one will get hurt.

I had a few friends join me for dinner! Let’s see some of the tasty things we ate!

[salted caramel martini / $10]

I’m not a big drinker but I figured a little buzzy sensation might be nice for once. I choose the Salted Caramel Martini which tastes like dessert in liquid form. It went to my head quickly.

[blue star / $10]

This is Stacey’s drink. I *think* it’s called Blue Star with stoli blueberry, signature vanilla lemonade, and blue curacao. Isn’t it pretty?

Minion & Allison ordered some Bone Marrow. Minion was nice and gave me one. It plopped right out and I smeared it all over some toast and it was delicious. I maybe put too much of the fancy salt on it because I was excited there was a little carafe of salt. I recommend not doing that.

Stacey got a dish from their special menu called Fig and Pig which amused me greatly (it amuses me even when I’m not buzzed, so there you go). She put a fig in my mouth and then later exclaimed, “I didn’t give you any pig!” and then put some pig in my mouth. Both tasted quite yummy and had a sweet kind of glaze to it.

[bacon macaroni and cheese / $12]

You’ve seen this on my blog before, surely. They put cheese nips crackers on top. It’s super creamy because they use straight heavy cream. It’s so delicious and cozy and warm. I lubs it.

[crue fries / $10]

The Crue Fries are another staple that Jake and I usually share. While normally quite delicious, on this night the fries were kind of drowning in too much sauce and the fries were a little undercooked. It still tasted good, but not as good as previous versions.

[d bar burger / $15]

Jake and I realized we had never tried their burger before and decided to give it a whirl. I’m glad they put all of that pickled crap on the side. Thanks for that, D Bar! The burger was just okay… it wasn’t mind blowing or anything that really put it over the top. It wasn’t quite medium rare (which is how we always ask for our burgers). I’m not sure what was “meh” about it exactly. But it was just kind of “meh”. We’ll stick to trying other things on the menu.

[duck confit nachos / $9]

Laura ordered some Duck Confit Nachos which is an interesting mix of the duck with mac and cheese sauce, cheddar and jack cheese, corn, and house fried chips. I remember trying a bite and thinking, “Huh. Corn on top of nachos? Okay.” I only had a bite and I was kind of high on my buzz so I don’t remember much else about this… woo, buzz!

[dressed avocado with simple salad / $8]

This is Stacey’s. I didn’t have any but I’ve had it before. Avocado is delicious.

[quinoa chopped salad / $8]

Laura also ordered this. I didn’t have any but I took a photo. I’m surprised this photo even came out.

Desserts!

[faux foster bananas imposter / $10]

I know our waitress explained why it was an “imposter” but I honestly don’t remember what she said. They don’t set this on fire in front of you, maybe that’s why it’s an imposter. Stacey made me eat a bite of waffle with caramel sauce and that was pretty good. The caramel sauce was rich and buttery and the waffle was warm and crispy. She didn’t make me eat any bananas at least. I’ll eat bananas but I don’t really like it. Too squishy.

[cake & shake / $10]

Allison got a Cake and Shake, which is like my favorite thing here. But I didn’t order it this time because I knew Jake wouldn’t eat any if I got it and I wanted him to share dessert.

[pumpkin spice souffle / $12]

Well, and also, they had a new dessert on the menu for the fall that I wanted to try!

This is the pumpkin spice souffle with beignets (beignets filed with cream cheese!) and Maker’s Mark pumpkin ice cream (!). I adored the little fluffy, hot beignets and after I ate one I told Jake we had to go to New Orleans to eat alllllllll the beignets.

When the souffle arrives, the waitress cracked the top open and then poured caramel sauce inside. HELLO. The souffle was hot and warm and gooey with the caramel sauce swirling around inside. It had a light pumpkin flavor and all of the warm spices from a pumpkin pie. Really tasty!

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Author: Mary

Mary is a San Diego native and has been a food blogger for 11+ years. She is an avid reader, a lover of puppies, and loves trying new food. Foods she loves: sweets, peanut butter, pasta, Triscuit crackers with cream cheese, and extra nuts on top of her sundaes. Food she dislikes: pickles, really spicy food, runny eggs, olives, and too much arugula.

Yay I like this place too! I guess nobody got the southern fried Belgium huh? It’s not mind blowing but looks and tastes pretty good. I like your dessert options especially the pumpkin souffle. The churro here is surprisingly great too. Happy birthday Mary!

Thank you, Lynn! I have gotten the Southern Fried Belgium which I really like, but we wanted to try something new haha. Churros! I keep meaning to order those but haven’t yet. Maybe next time, they sound so yummy.

Wow – that is an impressive souffle! When D Bar first opened, I was really reluctant to like it (I don’t know why… maybe because their name makes me think of d-bags?) but every time I eat there I love it. And it’s rarely ever super crowded. I should go more often!

Hi Leanne – hahaha… you know, their name has always seemed a little off to me as well so your comment was extra amusing to me. It’s true, it’s hardly every crowded and I always love that about D Bar. We’ve tried to go to Snooze again and just ended up at D Bar instead.